


Two Girls

by IaMcHrIsSi



Series: Identical [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, always a girl! Luke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-17
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-21 06:18:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4818308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IaMcHrIsSi/pseuds/IaMcHrIsSi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Luke and Leia were identical twins instead of fraternal?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Girls

Lux Skywalker grows up on Tatooine, grows up as the niece of Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun, as the granddaughter of Shmi Skywalker, the freeborn daughter of a slave. It's not a bad life, not truly. She is free, she has a family, she has food and a home and she can tinker with the mechanics Uncle Owen gives her, and sometimes she even joins some of the racers. She's a brilliant pilot and she knows it, and whenever there's offworlders who think that a girl can't fly, she delights in proving them wrong. She doesn't have many friends, but there's Biggs, who always steps between her and any bullies, and there's the little group around Camie and Fixer that let her sit with them. It's not a bad life.

 

But Lux is not happy, she's not content like the people around her. Her uncle wants her to become a farmer, like him, like Aunt Beru, wants her to marry a Tatooinian, preferably a free man who has no slaves in his anchestry, so that she might step up in the social ladder, be more than just one step above being a slave. _(He's scared, she knows, scared that some hutt might remember the name Skywalker as a slave name and think Lux would make a nice addition to a harem, scared that she might never be as save as him with his dozens of free anchestors, scared because he knows that he wouldn't be able to stop them, even though Lux is born free, even though nobody has a claim to her.)_

 

Lux doesn't want that. She's not sure what she wants, she just knows that it isn't _this_. She wants... she wants adventures, and travel, and new things and doing something that is important, something that _means_ something.

 

Her uncle shakes his head when she talks like this, calling her a dreamer and impractical and says that she doesn't even know what life is like away from Tatooine, and the worst thing is that Lux knows deep down that he is not wrong.

 

Which is why, more than anything, Lux wishes for a companion, a sister who would understand, who would share her dreams and know all about Lux, and who Lux in turn would know all about. When she was younger, she'd sometimes pretend that the face in the mirror was not her own, that it was her sisters, that she was not alone. Sometimes, she still does it, even though she is too old for this, even though she should grow up and start being an adult. Adults don't talk to the mirror expecting it to answer.

 

When Biggs tells her that he will go to join the Alliance, Lux wants nothing more than to go with him, because the Alliance just reeks of adventure, of freedom and fighting the good fight, of all the things Lux wants but will never archive on Tatooine. He won't take her with him, she knows, still wanting to protect her from everything, as if she was still 7 and tiny (she's still tiny, especially when she's standing next to him). She lets him go, kisses him on the cheek and tells him to remember her, his best friend and almost sister, when he saves the galaxy.

 

Lux goes back to her uncle and aunt, goes back to the grey, boring farm that is her home, feeling empty and lonely and wishing for... so many things. She eats with her family, asks to be allowed to go to the academy, not truly expecting a yes, but still hoping for it. She goes cleaning the droids, because she's good at it, because mechanics come naturally to her, because she understands what's wrong with them without even really trying.

 

Then she finds the message.

 

It shatters her world. It sounds overly dramatic saying it like this, as though she is an attention seeking teen (which, in a way, she is), but it's true. There is girl, a white robed girl with hair in elaborate buns and an earnest look in her eyes, that looks exactly like Lux.

 

For a moment, she wonders if this is a prank, if this is Biggs last (not-funny) joke, but Biggs isn't exactly in contact with Jawas, nobody is, there is no way he could set up something like this. And why would he? It's not funny, and he's not one of those who'd think everything funny.

 

Lux wants to confront her aunt and uncle, wants to make them answer her questions, wants to know everything, but as she watches them, smiling at one another, content in this little life, she can't bring herself to shatter their world as the message has shattered hers. They didn't even know her parents, not truly, only her grandmother. Most probably they don't know anything about this girl anyway. She doesn't want to hurt them.

 

She promises the droids to bring them to old Ben the next morning though, and she does. She's always liked the old man, even though he is kinda strange and nobody really knows him. He's not from here, came to Tatooine sometime after the Clone Wars and stayed on his own, never truly mingling with the people, but he's always kind to Lux, and he has helped her out once when she really needed help, so there's that. And given that the Girl In The Message (capitalized letters truly deserved) asks an Obi-Wan Kenobi for help, going to old Ben for answers is not the worst idea Lux has ever had.

 

Of course, not looking out for the sand people, that does count as one of her not so great ideas, especially when Lux knows what happened to her grandmother, when her uncle made sure to teach her how to use a rifle before she was 10 so that she wouldn't share Shmi's fate.

 

She wakes up in old Ben's little hut, confused but safe (she knows she's safe. She doesn't know how she knows this, but then again she's always had very good instincs). The old man is already trying to get the whole message out of the R2 unit, and he is staring at it thoughtfully, as though remembering something bittersweet.

 

“Who is she?” Lux asks, and she doesn't have to elaborate, doesn't have to explain. Old Ben knows who she is talking about, she sees it in his eyes. He looks sad, she realizes, and Lux wants to comfort him, to help him, somehow, but she doesn't know how _(and isn't that a good summary of Lux's life? She wants something, but doesn't know how to do it, how to reach it)._

 

“Her name is Leia Organa. She is the crown princess of Alderaan and a senator in the imperial senate.” Ben says, voice heavy with old sorrows. Lux doesn't really think about it, all she can think of is _Leia_. The other girl is named Leia. She says the name, lets it roll of her tongue. It's a pretty name, used on Tatooine, too. Lux finds that she wants to know everything about this girl.

 

“She is your twin sister.” It's nothing more than a whisper, but Lux hears it as though it had been a scream. _Twin sister_. Lux has a twin sistet. A part of her wants to shake her head, to call this bullshit, to deny that it's even possible, but Lux knows, somewhere deep down in her soul, that it's true. That Leia is the part that has been missing for so long, and that they belong together.

 

Lux has more questions, dozens of them, and old Ben tries to answer them. Yes, he knew her father. No, Anakin Skywalker wasn't a navigator, he was a Jedi. He was freed, yes, and he was Ben's friend, his student. Lux tries to imagine Ben as a teacher, and has to admit that it makes sense. Ben has always offered little wisdoms to those who wish to hear them. She asks after her mother too, and receives a pained look. Ben doesn't tell her much more than Aunt Beru did, only that her mother's name was Padme, and that she was from Naboo. Both Padme and Anakin were enemies of the Empire, which is why they died and why Lux and her sister were split upt. Lux stores that information away for later, wanting to remember every single bit she can about her parents, about her sister.

 

Ben wants to teach her, and to take her with him to Alderaan, to bring the message to Bail Organa, who is apparently an old friend of his and Leia's adopted father. And Lux wants to go, she truly does. She wants to leave Tatooine, wants to find her sister, wants everything Ben offers. But she can't leave her family, can't leave Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, boring and normal and loving and warm, behind, at least not without telling them where she is going. She tells Ben to let her go home first, to let her talk to her uncle and aunt.

 

Then she finds the poor Jawas, and before Ben can tell her otherwise, she's off to go home, to her aunt and uncle, desperately trying to get there quickly enough, hoping against hope that they are alright.

 

She is greeted by a smoking ruin, the corpses of the people who raised her, the only family she knows, burning themselves in her memory. She doesn't cry, after all, water isn't wasted lightly on Tatooine. But she promises herself to avenge them, and she promises her aunt and uncle to always remember them.

 

Ben finds them a ride to Alderaan after Lux sells her speeder. She won't need it anymore, knows deep in her bones that she will never live on Tatooine again, but it still hurts. The speeder was her first bit of freedom, a present to her 15 th birthday, and she will miss it, will miss the feeling of the wind in her hair, the knowledge that this is hers, that her uncle trusts her enough to let her own a speeder.

 

The cantina is nothing special, a typical shady bar for criminals and almost criminals. Lux doesn't like it, but she's a Tatooinian born and bred, she knows how this works. She's still surprised when Ben  _cuts of the guys arm_ , and then proceeds to let the smuggler  _(Solo, who seems to have worked with Jabba before, which immediately gets him on Lux's bad list)_ trick him into paying way too much for the little trip. Ben acts as though he has a plan, but Lux isn't quite sure how good a plan that involves giving away all their money can be. She's from Tatooine, she knows how the world is to people who can't pay their bread and water.

 

The trip is rather uneventful. Ben teaches her a few tricks, tells her about her father, has her do lightsaber exercises that make her look stupid but make her feel awesome, because suddenly her freakishly good instincts actually mean something. Solo laughes, but Solo is a smuggler who used to work for Jabba, so it's not like Lux cares for what he thinks.  _(Solo also thinks that Lux is pretty. He doesn't say it, but she knows. A girl on Tatooine learns early to tell if men like her, and to judge whether that would cause the men to want something from her.)_

 

She feels the shock the same moment Ben suddenly sits down, his smile gone and his eyes heavy once more. She doesn't know what happened, doesn't understand what the feeling means, but even without the dark look in Bens eyes she knows it isn't good.

 

And then they arrive at Alderaan, or where Alderaan used to be, and suddenly she knows what the feeling meant. She feels sick, wants to throw up, but before she can move, can do more than blink and gasp, they are in the Death Stars traction, pulled towards their doom.

 

_Is this the end?_ Lux wonders.  _Will I end like this, in a strangers ship, far away from home, another nameless victim of the big Empire, not different from the girls who were murdered by some of the many criminals on Tatooine? No,_ she decides,  _Lux Skywalker will not be nameless, and she will not be forgotten. She will make them remember, not only her, but all those others that were murdered, starting with Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun Lars._

 

Hiding in the smuggling cabinets is strange. Lux can't help but wonder what Solo usually puts in there, if there's ever been sentients in here, if Solo ever smuggled slaves. She doesn't want to believe it, but the man worked for Jabba, so it's possible. She doesn't ask him.

 

Ben goes to disable the traction ray, and Lux watches him leave with a bad feeling in her gut. She tells herself that it's just her nerves, that it doesn't mean a thing, because Ben is a Jedi and he knows what he's doing, but the feeling stays, even as Lux and Solo find themselves storm trooper uniforms. 

 

Saving the princess,  _Leia_ , isn't even a question. She's the only family Lux has, the only one that's left to her. She gets Solo to help her by offering more riches, and almost snorts because men like him are so very predictable. Only out for the money, bought easily and probably without any loyalities to anyone outside of himeslf and his co-pilot. Lux doesn't have to like him, she tells herself, she just has to use him.

 

The storm trooper uniform is uncomfortable, and quite a bit to large, and itchy, and it's distracting. It's beyond stupid, because this is the adventure she always wished for, the opportunity to save someone, to do something that has a meaning, and she can't stop thinking about all those little unimportant things. 

 

But then she sees Leia, tired and hurting and still fighting, and all that doesn't matter anymore. She takes of her helmet, shakes out her hair and sees the shock in Leia's eyes, those eyes that are exactly the same as Lux's.

 

“I'm Lux Skywalker.” She says. “Apparently I'm your twin sister. I'm here to rescue you.”

 

She takes Leia's hand as they run, and it feels right. As if some part of her soul is finally slotting in place. Leia has questions, of course she does, but as it turns out, Leia is a practical woman, much more so than Lux, and can wait until they are safe before asking them. 

 

The look on Solo's face when Lux comes with Leia, that complete shock and disbelief, actually makes Lux smile. When she turns to Leia, she finds that her sister is smiling too. It looks exactly like Lux's smile. With Leia's hand in hers, warm and solid and familiar, and both of them smiling, the world is okay for just a second.

 

Of course, that's when more storm troopers show up to destroy the moment. All of them dive for cover, and Lux and Solo start firing back. The rifle feels strange in Lux's hands, heavier than the ones she's used to, and she's firing it at real people. She's never done that before, even though Uncle Owen taught it to her for this reason, all Lux has ever aimed at are womp rats or painted targets.

 

Leia takes the rifle from Lux's hands easily, and for a moment all Lux feels is relief. Her sister seems to have an idea what she is doing, at least, even though Solo is less than impressed and it was Lux who'd come to save Leia instead of the other way around.

 

“Somebody has to save our skins!” Leia says, and Lux grins brightly before being pushed into the garbage chute.

 

That is … not something she ever wants to repeat, to be honest. It's smelly, she nearly drowns in knee deep water and some strange animal tries to pull her under. And that's before the walls are starting to close in on them. 

 

The funny thing is, Lux is so busy staying alive, being annoyed at the fact that Leia and Solo are insulting each other the whole time and trying to reach R2 that she's not even scared. She should be, all four of them almost died, but all she can do is laugh and scream in euphoria when the walls are starting to move away again, seeing Leia hug Solo and reaching to hug her sister herself. 

 

Afterwards, Lux and Solo get out of their ill fitting uniforms, and Lux tries to dry her hair. It's a strange feeling, having wet hair. On Tatooine she only ever used sonic showers, no water wasted for something like this, and she's honestly not sure whether she's ever had her hair really wet before. It's heavy, somehow, and Lux wants to ask Leia for help, sure that her sister, the princess, has showered with real water before, but Leia is busy bickering with Solo and insulting Chewie, so that's not happening either. 

 

_(Leia is at the end of her rope, Lux realizes suddenly. She doesn't know how she knows it, but Leia does not believe they will survive this, and worse, she doesn't believe that she should live. As soon as they are out of here, Lux is going to have to talk with her about this.)_

 

When they are attacked  _(again)_ , Solo proves himself to be a lot braver than Lux had given him credit for, leading the Imps away. She's not sure what Solo's plan is, or if the man even has one, but splitting up might be a good idea, so she leads Leia in the other direction. Leia's hand finds hers again, and despite the situation, Lux smiles.

 

She lets Leia have the rifle, because honestly, Leia seems more comfortable with it and Lux doesn't truly need it with her sister covering her back, anyway. They swing over the gap, and all Lux can think is that this is absolutely not what she had though about when she had imagined going on adventures with her (at that time imaginary) sister.

 

When they reach the Falcon, at the same time as Solo and Chewie, Lux lets herself breath in relief. Things are actually looking well for them.

 

Of course that's the moment things get screwed up again. Old Ben appears, his lightsaber out and shining bright, together with another figure, a man in dark cloak and mask, who has his own lightsaber and seems to be fighting Ben. Leia startles as she sees the other man, and Lux wants to ask who he is, whether Leia knows the man.

 

Then the dark one kills Ben. Lux doesn't remember the next moments, onlx knows that at some point she was charging forward, trying to... well, what was she trying to do? Avenge Ben? Kill the man that had proven too much for even Lux's teacher? She knows that Leia pulls her back to the ship, and then they leave, Solo cursing but getting them out safely. 

 

Lux sits down at the table, puts her head in her hands. Her whole body hurts, but that's not what has her almost crying. With Ben dead, she can't help but remember her aunt and uncle, who had been alive not a day ago, who had been murdered, just like Ben. With a start Lux realizes, truly realizes, that she has no place to go, that her home is gone and so is almost everyone who has ever been important to her. It's like a wall breaking, and it's all Lux can do not to break out in tears.

 

At one point, Leia comes to put a blanket around Lux shoulders. Leia looks exhausted, her hair just a bit messed up, and somehow Lux knows that this is a huge sign that Leia isn't okay, either. She remembers that Leia too lost everything, and thinks she should comfort her, should somehow help her, but she can't even form a single word. Somehow they end up hugging, holding each other close and just breathing, neither of them crying but wanting to.

 

For once, Solo is quiet, and Lux admits to herself that maybe he's not as bad a man as she'd thought.

 

When they arrive on Yavin, all Lux wants is to curl up somewhere and sleep, but of course that's not happening. They are welcomed by a general who hugs Leia and then stares at Lux until Leia pulls him with her. Leia takes the time to direct an officer to Lux, who, like the general, stares but lets her register as a new member of the rebellion.  _(She's always wanted to join the rebellion, but not like this, not when she knows that she can never go home again, that her home doesn't even exist anymore)._

 

The whole base is buzzing, but Lux doesn't notice. She's in shock, she supposes, and Solo, puts himself between everybody who stares too much. It surprises her, but then it doesn't, because Solo proved herself to be more than just another ruthless smuggler on the Death Star.

 

Her recruiter comes back after an hour to give her a pilot suit and tell her that they are planning an offensive against the Death Star, and if she wants to fly in it. Lux says yes.

 

During the briefing, so many people stare at her that Lux honestly considers putting on her helmet. She had wished for a twin sister, she hadn't thought about the fact that people would know Leia and be interested in this other girl who looked so much like her.

 

Wedge, her SO, is nice, though, and he only stares at her when she makes a comment about how she used to shoot womp rats at home, so there's that.

 

And then, suddenly, they are in the ship yard, X and Y and S Wings everywhere. Biggs is there, laughing and hugging her and promising to listen to her story after this, after they take down this monstrosity that's coming for them, and Lux grins and tells him to stay safe. She doesn't want to loose him, her best friend, after she's already lost so much.

 

Solo's leaving, and it surprises her, shocks her, disappoints her. She was so sure that there was more to the smuggler than that, so sure that he would fight with them, even though of course he had never said anything like that, had never promised to stay.

 

“He has to make his own choices.” Leia says as she wishes Lux good luck, and Lux gives her a weak smile. She hugs her sister, in the middle of a busy ship yard, ignoring the dozens of people staring at them, and hopes that they will survive this so that they can actually talk about things that are not directly tied to survival and that smuggler they'd picked up on the way.

 

Flying with the rebels is incredible. Lux has never flown outside of Tatooine's atmosphere before, but she's not about to tell people that, and the X-Wings are easy to pilot anyway. They are awesome to manover, and for a few moments Lux simply enjoys the feeling of freedom she always gets when she's flying.

 

Then one of their group is shot down, a pilot named Porkins, and Lux is forcibly reminded that this is not a practice flight, not even a race on Tatooine, but a real, honest to the Goddess battle. 

 

When she shoots down her first Imp, all she feels is satisfaction. They hurt her, killed her family and friends, so she hurts them back. It feels like justice.  _(Aunt Beru wouldn't approve, but Aunt Beru was brutally murdered in her own home, so maybe this is necessary.)_

 

The first try to end that Death Star fails, and more and more of their pilots are shot down. They've started with about 30 pilots, but now they are down to 15, then 9, then 6. Lux realizes that they are loosing this battle. 

 

She goes in the trench run with Biggs and Wedge as her wingmen. Over comms they hear the other three fighters get shot down, one by one. 

 

Wedge gets shot, but not destroyed. She tells him to pull out, because he's not going to be any use here anyway, and if he pulls out now, he might actually survive this. 

 

She tries to take the shot, but fails. The torpedo explodes over the exhaust port, doing no harm. For the first time, she allows herself to wonder if this is even possible, if there was ever a change of them succeeding, or if it was a desparate last stand, never intended to actually end in a victory. Maybe it was both, she thinks.

 

Then Biggs is shot down. For a moment, Lux forgets to breathe. Her best friend, her almost brother, who has been with her since both of them can remember, who used to protect her from bullies and go to the races with her and charm Aunt Beru... dead. She wants to cry.  _(Tatooinians don't cry)_

 

Behind her, the ship that shot down Biggs is zeroing in on her. Lux tries to figure out how to get out of this one, if there is even a chance for her to survive this.

 

“You're not alone.” Ben's voice sounds from everywhere and nowhere at once, and Lux is sure she is going mad now, because Ben is dead, because she _saw_ him die, knows that there is no way he survived that.

 

Suddenly, her pursuers are attacked. For a moment she wonders if it's Ben, or Biggs, or Wedge, but Ben and Biggs are dead and Wedge is long gone, left with an almost unmanoverable ship, so who...?

 

“You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow this thing and go home.” She knew there was more to him than just another ruthless smuggler.

 

She listens to what she decides has to be Ben's ghost, or possibly a hallucination, brought upon by the stress, and closes her eyes. She lets her feelings lead her as she presses the button that fires the torpedo, and only opens her eyes again when she hears Leia cheering over the comms.

 

When they arrive on Yavin, they are greeted by dozens of cheering rebels, Leia at the lead, running to hug Lux, and Lux lets her, grinning with and laughing and full of adrenaline, goes to hug Solo who looks as though he can't believe what just happened, that he actually came back for Lux.

 

People are still staring, but now it's not only because Lux and Leia look the same, but also because of what Lux did, because Lux just fired the shot that saved them all. Lux doesn't mind, but then again there's not she minds in that moment, euphoria still brimming in her veins.

 

_ (They still stare days later, when Lux and Solo and Chewie get their medals, but Lux is only looking at Leia, anyway, because when this ceremony is over, they will  _ finally _ be able to talk.) _


End file.
